Danny Phantom: The Real Story
by ICantBelieveImWritingFanFict
Summary: Danny Phantom? What a joke. They turned my life into a comedy! Doesn't anyone notice that nothing about it even makes any sense! Well, this is different; this is the story of how I died. Surprised? What, you thought I was mutated by some kind of ectoplasmic goo? That's cute. How do think you get ghost powers? You die, that's how. ON HIATUS If I get into college, see you in December
1. Chapter 1: Introducing Danny Fenton

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in the following story are not necessarily shared by the author. AKA: I love Danny Phantom (that's why this is called a fan fiction) Also, the premise is from Danny Phantom, the tone I kind of got from Catcher in the Rye (at least, that's what I was going for), and a couple of motifs are from Mists of Avalon (no, that does not mean Jazz and Danny will sleep together)**

**This is M for language and adult themes; nothing 'explicit' in terms of violence or sex.  
**

Danny Phantom? What a joke. They turned my life into a fucking comedy! Doesn't anyone notice that nothing about it even makes any sense? Why the hell would I even fight _anyone_ if I could just whip out some stupid 'thermos' and have all my problems go away? And my parents, you think they didn't notice because they were _dense?_ My dad ripped a hole into another dimension! No, he didn't notice because he doesn't give a damn about me. He just cares about 'ghosts' and doesn't give a shit about the living. Guess they got that part right. And since when have ghosts been funny? Ghosts mean death, ghosts mean pain, ghosts means somebody fucking died and left their son and their family in a stupid little house in a stupid little town, and everybody just expects you to just _move on._ I never even _knew_ my mom. The closest I ever got was Jazz, and then she was gone too.

I guess it all started with 'the portal,' that's where these stories are supposed to start right? The moment I became a superhero. You've all heard the story: "I was just fourteen, thought it would be cool, so I went into the portal, combined with the 'ghostly' energy there, blah, blah, blah" what a load of bullshit. I was standing in front of the portal wishing I could just blow my head in because my stupid dad hadn't shown up for the stupid parent teacher conference. I mean, really, he couldn't just get off his lazy ass and come down to my school, and _pretend_ like he cared that I was getting detention for yelling at a teacher? But, no, nobody cares what _Danny_ says, nobody cares if the teachers just watch while Dash Baxter beats the hell out of him after class every day. Nobody cares if Danny gets two detentions because they wouldn't believe him that his father couldn't take time off from drinking to care for his son. Nobody cares that some girl got raped and murdered behind the bleachers because her brother wasn't there to save her. Oh, sure, they cared for a little while at the funeral, they cared about _Jazz. _But nobody cared about Danny. There wasn't a single person on the entire fucking planet, who cared that she was leaving a twelve-year-old boy at home alone with a father who does nothing but sit on his ass and watch TV, or work on his stupid fucking portal, and try and reach those long dead, but pay no attention to the only fucking person who was still alive. And that's the only reason I _didn't_ blow my head in. Because, nobody _would_ care. So, instead, I decided to destroy the one thing he _did _care about. And if I got killed in the process, well, that would just be two birds with one stone.

Ever heard of "scared half to death?" I used to think it was just an expression, but guess where I am now… Surprised? What, you thought I was mutated by some kind of ectoplasmic goo? That's cute. How do think you get ghost powers? You fucking die, that's how. Except when I set the portal on overload, it was only designed for one way; if I had just blown my head in, my 'soul' would have slipped through to the other side and I'd be with mom and Jazz right now.

And, yes, there can be such thing as a one way door. Well, maybe a door isn't the best description; a hole would be a better one. See, you can look at "dimensions" as two pieces of paper lying next to each other (actually it's like a stack of papers, but for the human world and the 'ghost zone' let's just keep it at 2). So, anyways, we're little stick figures on one of the pieces of paper, and we move along it just fine. Just as those figures can't begin to fathom how they'd move other than in 2D, we can't imagine how we'd move in 4. Now, how the portal was supposed to work was by ripping a little hole on their side of the paper, and then they could just walk through, much like how you begin to write on the next page when you rip a hole in your notebook in class. The only reason the portal hadn't been working was because you could walk through, but you were on the wrong side of the paper.

Now, according to Sam, (who's usually pretty accurate about this kind of stuff; I'll explain later) for every living person, there's a 'soul' on the other side of the paper that holds them onto the page. It's like peoples' bodies are one magnet and their 'soul' the other, just on opposite sides of the page. When people die, they become demagnetized, and the bodies can't move without the 'soul' to guide them. Ghosts are the soul side of the magnet, clinging on to their universe, so they don't fall off. Sometimes, where the dimensional threads are really thin, spirits can even reach partially through and move stuff around. We call those poltergeists.

But back to me; when I overloaded the portal, it had enough energy to rip through both sides of the paper, leaving one gaping hole into _nothing_. Guess what was holding my magnets apart, then? _Nothing._

I sort of merged with myself… it was the weirdest thing, I mean one minute I'm fucking angry, and the next, I just kind of… am? My life didn't really _quite_ flash before my eyes, but it was like the things I thought were big things suddenly became small, and the things I never paid any attention to became big. Like, when I turned eight and my dad yelled at Jazz for throwing me a party, and my friends' parents wouldn't let their kids come over to my house anymore, I suddenly kind of forgave my dad for it, I mean, hell, that's the anniversary of when his wife died. Hell, I guess it's not surprising I became half ghost; birth and death are synonymous in my life.

But the fucking geek! There's this kid who's been following me around for _years_ and I can't get him to leave me alone, just 'cause I stood up for the guy _one time. _ I mean, I never gave him a moment's thought, but as I was lying there… floating there? Hell, I don't even know where _there_ was, but as I was, you know, dying, I just kept thinking; "god, what was that kids name? I shoulda been nicer to that guy. I shoulda been his friend, or shoulda paid attention to what he was saying"

And that's the only reason I didn't just float off and die. I just had to go and apologize to this fucking _geek_.

**Let me know if I should finish this, it'll be at least one more chapter, but beyond that I'm not sure. If Danny sounds too much like a girl, that'd be helpful to point out :). I've never written _anything_ before, so I'd appreciate some constructive criticism. I've only got a vague idea where this is going... So, yeah. **

**Not to be too mushy, but, yeah, you guys inspired me. All the people out there, thinking and getting their thoughts heard. So, thanks :)  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Introducing Sam Manson

**I had to switch the point of view to Sam because Danny's conscious... We'll see how well this works. Oh, and thanks for the review on the profanity; yes, that many f-bombs was important; I'm using it as a literary device, as you'll see later :)**

Chapter 2

Samantha Manson stared at herself in the mirror. Her long, curly, blonde hair fell to her waist, as she adjusted the butterfly hairpin her mother had given her for her tenth birthday. The pink wings matched Samantha's floral skirt and pink top.

"Oh, Saaaaammy-kins!" Samantha Manson heard through the door.

"What is it mom?" she asked, opening the door.

"Well, you know, I've been thinking about that discussion we had the other day…" the mother intoned excitedly, putting her arm around her daughter's shoulders as she lead her down the stairs.

"You have?" her face lighting up and feeling lighter than she had in years. Her mom lead her into the living room where a box was lying on the floor.

"Yes, I should have realized you'd be getting lonely, soooooo…." She exaggerated the last word as she bent down and reached into the box, her face practically glowing as she lifted something out. Pamela Manson squealed like a little girl as she lifted a tiny, black, ball of fluff out of the box and displayed the tiny puppy before her less than enthusiastic daughter.

Samantha's face fell as she beheld the chiwawa in her mother's hands. A puppy. She'd asked for freedom, and her mother had given her… a puppy.

"That's, uh… well…" Samantha stopped talking as she watched the grown woman's eyes fill with worry and overdramatic tears. "I mean… Wow, a puppy, that's… great? Thanks!" she forced a smile while trying to hold back tears.

"Oh, I just _knew_ you'd like him! He's already potty trained and knows all the basic commands! George will walk him once a day, so there's no need to worry about that…" She continued to chatter on excitedly. Samantha knew this was the point at which she could scream bloody murder and her mother wouldn't notice, so she excused herself and turned to take the puppy upstairs to her room.

She'd told them. She'd _told_ them that she wanted to go to school, but _no._ _"Well last time you went to school they made fun of you and you _begged_ me to take you home. I just want to protect you. I don't want you to go through that again." _ And, of course, she'd conceded, let her mom win, the way she always did. And here she was thinking that maybe, just maybe, she'd gotten through to them…

"Whatcha gonna name her? I was thinking Fluffy, or Bobby, or Ickle-kins, you used to love naming things!" Mrs. Manson clapped her hands together and held them under her cheek.

Samantha looked the little fuzz ball straight in the eye and glared.

"Maya!" she sneered as she jabbed the puppy with her nose. Maya reached right out and bit her, with sharp teeth and enough force to break the skin. Samantha was so startled she dropped the small dog, who landed safely on the on the higher stairs in front of her. Samantha watched as, her smile growing as the puppy growled at her, ran into her room, and proceeded to tear the silk pillows to shreds.

"Maya, how perfect!" Chimed Mrs. Manson, oblivious to the destruction unfolding above her.

"Actually, mom, I've changed my mind!" Samantha called down, a plan forming in her mind. "I think Kali suits her better"

"Callie? How sweet!" her mother called back, "well, I'll leave you two for some bonding time!" she giggled, so proud to have made all her problems disappear with a hundred dollars to the right breeder.

Samantha took her favorite pink dress down from the closet and tossed it on the floor. She did her best to laugh manically as the tiny goddess before her tore it pieces.

xxxx

Hours later, Mrs. Manson called her for dinner. Hearing no reply, she quietly opened the door, expecting to see her daughter asleep in bed. Instead, the door opened upon mountains of feathers and strips of fabric strewn across the floor; Samantha was nowhere in sight, but Kali was in the middle of the floor, her teeth attacking the dress now barely recognizable as the one Mrs. Manson had carefully picked for her daughter. She screamed and tried to kick the small dog, but only when Kali easily evaded the attack, did she notice the note tied around the puppy's neck. Her husband and butler rushed into the room as she snatched the note up, reading aloud the words

_I've run away from home; don't hurt Kali; lock her up, if you must, but don't give her away. I'm running not because I hate you, but because you have to let me grow up. Yes, I'll make mistakes, I'll get hurt, but that's a part of life. I'm not willing to sacrifice that to be safe. I won't spend my whole life afraid of going outside. I love you, goodbye._

_**Samantha Manson **_

Mrs. Manson collapsed on what little remained of the bed. Kali began tugging at the hem of her dress, and she tugged it away, horrified.

Her husband tried to calm her as she screamed "I specifically went to a breeder that breeds dogs to be well behaved!"

To which the unperturbed butler replied under his breath, "I guess not everybody turns out just like their parents…"

xxxx

**In case anyone is wondering, you can google Kali or Maya and illusion to find out my allusion... I'm really proud of that :) I thought about waiting to finish the next scene before ending this chapter, but I wanted to see what people thought about my other point of view... (Meaning if I don't get feedback, I'll probably just not upload it) And yes, that was blackmail... I'm not really sure if I'm in any kind of position to blackmail, but... :D  
**


	3. Chapter 3: Samantha Meets Danny

Samantha made it approximately 3 city blocks before she was lost, 7 before she was scared, and 10 before she admitted to either. She had just turned around and decided to turn back, cursing herself for not having gone in a straight line, when a flash of light drew her attention to a darkened alleyway. Looking just in time to see a glowing figure slam against the alley wall with considerable force, she stared as she tried to see what had thrown him.

But there was no one there; just an unconscious boy, sliding to the ground, radiating a strange, eerie glow. Stepping closer to get a better look, still slightly afraid to touch him, she saw that he was wearing faded, torn jeans and a baggy, pink, T-shirt, both of which looked like they had been set on fire. In spite of the state of his clothes, the boy himself, other than being unconscious, didn't have a scratch. That, of course, wasn't to say he looked _fine_. He was a _way_ tooskinny; she could see his ankles below his pant leg, and he was wearing a belt around a waist that didn't seem much larger than Samantha's own. It couldn't be healthy; he was _so_ pale, and his prominent cheek bones made his cheeks look sunken next to his triangular jaw. One eye was covered by grey hair falling in his face, the strands shifting between lighter and darker shades. She guessed that he was blond, and the weird light was throwing odd shadows, in fact, when she looked again his cheekbones didn't appear _quite_ so well defined. Literally; he was practically blurred around the edges, less like an out of focus photograph, and more like a pen drawing whose ink had begun to run, or a strange boy whose essence was leaking out of him in strange rays of light. She looked again at the pink shirt and the grey hair, realizing that he wasn't radiating light; he was leaking _pigment_.

_That _couldn't be good, wondering if she should call an ambulance, she realized she didn't have a cell phone (she never left the house, and who would she call?). She supposed she could try to _find _help, but who'd believe her anyway? _"Help, I've found this kid who's fading into nothing!"_ He'd be gone by the time she got back anyway, but she had to do _something!_

Maybe she could wake him up! She reached over to move the hair out of his eyes, but instead her hand passed right through his hair, like an optical illusion at a 3D movie. Her fingers felt like she'd spent an hour in the snow without gloves, and she jerked her hand back in surprise. A faint, white, wisp that glowed with the same aura that surrounded the boy followed her hand away from his head, as if tied by a string to her fingers. Okay, she was afraid for _her_ well-being now; she scooted away as the tendril wrapped its way around her fingers, glancing fearfully at now practically transparent, unmoving, figure in front of her. She was on her feet, ready to run, but she couldn't just _leave_ him; she'd watched too many superhero movies and not enough horror films.

But he didn't look _that_ bad, she realized; sure, his hair was now entirely white and she could see the concrete through his torso, but she could clearly see his outline, and most of the light oozing off him seemed to be concentrated around the thin stream that connected them like a rope. No, more like a leach, Samantha realized as she began to feel light-headed; while the original tentacle remained wrapped around her wrist, a thin layer of light now seemed to covering her arm. Okay, maybe that's a bad thing… her vision swam before her eyes, and she wasn't sure if she was blacking out or if whatever the substance wrapping itself around her was had covered her eyes. She tried to step back, to run, but she tripped, blind, not even feeling the pain of the concrete scraping her skin, drawing blood. She was scared, no, terrified; she was helpless and there was no one to help her, she was alone…. So alone... Her parents didn't know where she was, and she was so lonely… they probably wouldn't care anyway… her dad would probably find her and all he'd care about was that stupid- … something…

But he _would_ care, he'd be so sad when he found his only remaining child… but she wouldn't care, yes, that was it, _she_ wouldn't care, because she was angry. That's why he hadn't even bothered to leave a note before…

But she _had _left a note… angry? This wasn't her present, it was… a memory… someone… someone else's… memory…

The boy! Instantly another memory: looking at herself in the mirror, only, it was the boy from the alleyway staring back. His hair wasn't white, it was black, and he was shorter, healthier… an older memory... there were people outside; a party? … his birthday… there was yelling, a large man, and …standing up to him?... her, no _his_ sister.

Jazz… that was her name, and… Danny? Short for Daniel, she guessed…

More memories flooding by, his home, his sister, the funeral, school… School! He went to school! Memories of teachers, bullies… where were his friends? Nothing, except… a boy… not quite his friend, but he'd tried to be… the memory got clearer

"_Fuck off," she heard herself say. _

"_Dude, I'm just trying to be your friend here."_

"_Whatever…"_

Well, _that_ wasn't very nice… he should apologize… should be his friend, or at least paid attention to what he was saying…

Pain… regret…

Resolve?

She opened her eyes suddenly and found herself lying on the alley, face down. Standing up, she blinked as her eyes adjusted. The alleyway was pitch-black; the sun had dropped below the level of the buildings, and the strange glow had vanished. She looked around for the kid-Danny, she reminded herself- when she saw an outline a few paces off. To her relief he appeared to be breathing; his chest rising and falling, though he didn't move otherwise and she figured he was still out cold. As her eyes adjusted, she noticed that his hair was actually black, and he wasn't _that_ thin, sure, he was scrawny, but not starving as she had originally thought. In fact, he was almost unrecognizable as the same young boy who had moments before appeared just an inch from death.

A stick lay a few meters off, and Samantha picked it up, edging closer to Danny, not wanting a repeat of the previous incident. When she was close enough to reach, she prodded his arm with the stick, and, thankfully, his arm offered resistance, rather than passing through the stick as it had her hand. Now was probably a good time to go get help, or call the police, but images of the hurt kitten she had found when she was nine kept popping into her mind; when she showed it to her parents they had immediately taken it out of her hands and sent it to an animal hospital, but she had never seen it again. She figured once she brought an adult into this situation, she would be thanked, then sent home and would never find out exactly what had happened. It was a selfish, impractical decision, one that could easily result in Danny's death; she had no way of knowing if he needed serious medical assistance, but the truth was; Samantha was curious. She had succeeded in finding her way into what she thought of as an adventure, and besides, his condition didn't look _too _serious…

Oh, how wrong she was….

xxxx

**Sorry about the wait; I got inspired for the next chapter, but I had trouble figuring out how to lead into it. Anyways, here it is! Any reviews are welcome, and I'd especially appreciate any criticism on my writing style (Danny's profanity stays, though) or word choice. Thanks, hope you enjoy it! **


	4. Chapter 4: Introducing Tucker Foley

**ATTENTION: I edited Chapter 2 to include a small description of Sam, so you should probably go back and read that if you started reading before 8/5/2012 because I changed her appearance from the way it was in the show. It's only a brief paragraph, but it'll be important. **

**DISCLAIMER: If you find a person unconscious, you _should _take them to the hospital. Both Sam and Tucker are being extremely irresponsible, but they're not thinking straight so we'll forgive them.  
**

It was decided; Samantha would figure out what to do with Danny on her own. Unfortunately, this decision left her with another decision: What _was_ she going to do with him? She couldn't take him home with her; her parents would freak out, _and_ it would defeat the purpose of running away in the first place. She couldn't take _him _home; she had no idea where he lived, and she didn't like the idea of meeting his father. She didn't have any friends, and neither did Danny, unless you counted the kid whose name he couldn't remember… actually, now that Samantha thought about it, she thought he looked familiar. His face had rung a bell when she was in Danny's mind (the best explanation she could come up with at the moment; it was just like in this one book she read about telepaths…), but so had the faces of Danny's father and sister. Now, she could have sworn she'd seen that face before… it was hard to think because every time she tried to retrieve the memory, her memory of Danny's memories kept coming up instead. He was… smiling… shaking someone's hand… at… an awards ceremony…? He was at the awards ceremony her parents had hosted last week! He'd won some kind of math competition… Her parents had made her fill out invitation envelopes. She remembered his name because she'd thought it funny that he lived on Oak Drive when his last name was Foliage. No, wait, his last name was Foley, and he lived on Aged Oak Drive! 443 Aged Oak Drive.

Which, she still had no idea where it was. She walked out of the alley and back onto a sidewalk, there was a bus stop nearby, and a map. There was even a lovely "You Are Here" sticker; her luck today was unstoppable! Feeling extremely confident, she read through the road names, until she found Aged Oak Drive; it happened to be the next road over. Going back into the alley, she pulled the still unconscious boy's arm up, over her shoulder, and slung him onto her back, as she began walking in the direction that should lead her to Mr. Foley's house.

xxxx

The good news was that Danny was no taller than Samantha, and maybe even a half-inch shorter, as well as fairly skinny, and Samantha was pretty strong for her age. The bad news was that there wasn't a 443 Aged Oak Drive. The street was lined with apartment buildings, but number 443 had a large "FOR SALE" sign, and through the window she could see that the lobby was already cleared out, all furniture removed, and none of the call buttons said "Foley". She must have remembered wrong, made some kind of mistake, but she had no way of fixing it. Maybe she should call the police…

"Oh my god, what happened?!" a tall, young boy, with dark skin and a round face, wearing glasses, a red beret, and a look of utmost concern ran up to her. She instantly recognized him as the boy she was trying to find, but how would she explain that she knew who he was from reading Danny's mind?

"Uh, I'm not sure… he… just kind of collapsed… "Thinking quickly, she had an idea "He's my friend, he was trying to find… Some-One Foley… Do you know where he lives?"

"Um, I'm Tucker Foley…. I don't know why he was trying to find me… here" Tucker pulled Danny's other hand over his head and took some of the weight off Samantha. "I guess we should get him inside."

The two carried him to the door of Apartment building 430 (at least she had one number right), then to the elevator. While on the elevator, which was surprisingly fast, Tucker asked "Why didn't you call someone?"

"Well, he's breathing… And I didn't have a cell phone…" The elevator stopped at the fourth floor, and they carried him over to apartment 4B. Tucker opened the door, and then helped Samantha lay Danny on the couch.

"I'm Samantha, by the way." She decided to leave off her last name, not wanting to draw any attention to her family.

"Tucker" He said, straightening up. "I guess I already said that, though…" There was an awkward couple seconds before he continued "I'll go get some water, see if we can wake him up…" He walked into the next room.

"Okay" Samantha hadn't thought this far ahead in her plan; once Danny was awake her lie about being his friend would come to light… but it was too late now; Tucker was back with a glass water and a wet washcloth.

The water fell on Danny's face, and his flashed eyes open, but disappeared a moment later as his arms jumped to cover his face.

"What the _fuck!?_" Both Samantha and Tucker took a couple steps backwards, shocked at his violent awakening. Danny lowered his hands as his eyes darted around the room. "Where the fuck am I?" He sat up straight on the couch. "What the fuck just happened?"

"You collapsed, dude. Samantha said you were looking for me? We brought you inside. Are you okay?"

Instead of answering the question, Danny turned to Samantha. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Do you have any adjectives in your vocabulary besides 'fuck'?" She had never heard anyone use profanity that extensively, and she was beginning to think she didn't like this 'Danny' very much.

"Yeah; that's one _shitty_ hairpin." He retorted sarcastically, deciding he felt the same way.

Hurt, Samantha reached up into her hair and her fingers found the hairpin … She guessed it _was _getting a little old, and she slowly pulled it out of her hair. Neither boy noticed this, however, because they were facing each other as Tucker asked

"Wait, you don't know her?" turning, shocked, and a little scared, to Samantha

"I thought you knew her?" Danny asked, and now both pairs of blue eyes were completely focused on the frozen girl in front of them.

Samantha looked at them as if she had just realized that she was in a strange house in a part of town she didn't know, with two strangers. Sure, they looked about her age, but…

"I… I…" She stuttered, unsure of how to explain the situation, until she decided on the truth. "Okay, so I lied." She brought her hands up defensively, and took a step backwards, towards the door. "But I didn't mean any harm, honest! I ran away from home…" She began to explain the entire story, but when she got to the part about the strange light, both boys raised their eyebrows, and she could tell they didn't believe her.

But she continued anyway, talking faster, in hopes to get to a part that sounded more believable, but the more she talked the less real it sounded, and she was convinced that Tucker no longer believed a word. However, as soon as she started talking about Jazz, Danny's face changed from disbelief to shock and… fear? Abruptly the fear turned to anger, and she could have sworn his blue eyes turned green as he stood up and started walking towards her, shouting.

"Who the hell are you? How the hell do you know that?"

"I told you! I'm telling the truth, I swear!" Her hand was on the doorknob, turning it; she was ready to run if he took a step closer. She hadn't been worried that he'd be violent, but the look in his eyes was frankly terrifying. He was acting like a cornered wolf, lashing out because he had nowhere to run.

"Woah, calm down!" Tucker stepped in between them, and said, very reasonably, "Are you saying she actually knows what was going through your mind a couple minutes ago?"

"But that's not possible!" Danny turned and started pacing around the room, running his shaking hands through his hair.

"Well, do you have a better explanation?"

"I don't fucking know…. Maybe she made me hallucinate those things…?"

"You can't choose what a person will hallucinate…" Samamtha spoke up very quietly, not wanting to set him off again.

"Well, of course _you_ would say that!" He turned in anger to her again, but Tucker stood in his way.

"She's right, dude, and besides, why would she do that?"

"How the hell should I know? Ask her!"

"Well, I say if we've got the choice between telepathic communication or some bizarre conspiracy theory with no motive, I vote we go with the one that has a motive and doesn't involve killing each other."

Finally listening, Danny sat down on the couch and groaned in frustration, putting his head in his hands. His shoulders slumped as his anger dissipated, and Tucker relaxed slightly. Then Tucker tried to move away from Samantha, but she kept trying to hide behind him, still afraid of Danny. Giving up on that, he continued with his new job as peace keeper, silently thanking all those years of practice with his younger cousins.

"Okay, Danny, would you please tell me what happened." Tucker checked his watch; his parents should be home soon, but he didn't know what they'd do if they found him harboring a runaway and a strange boy.

In response to Tucker's question, Danny brought his head to his knees, hiding his face. His shoulders shook slightly, tensing, and then relaxed. He took a deep breath and moved his elbows to his knees, straightening slightly. He slid his hands across his face, and up into his hair, but kept his head pointed down. He sighed and, without opening his eyes, spoke.

"I was in my dad's lab… this portal thing exploded… I had some weird dreams… woke up here."

"Why were you-"

"That's none of your fucking business!" Danny snapped, lifting his head to look at Tucker.

"Okay!" Tucker lifted his hands, palm up. He waited for Danny to calm down again, but after a minute of suffering under his glare, Tucker decided to ask another question.

"So… what was this 'portal thing' supposed to do?"

"How the hell should I know? It was supposed to contact ghosts or something stupid…"

Samantha peaked out from behind Tucker. "Well, maybe that makes sense…."

Both boys looked at her, waiting for an explanation. Tucker was patient, but Danny was annoyed with the pause.

"Care to enlighten us?"

"Well, ghosts are supposed to be the remnants of dead people's consciousness, right?"

"Yeah…."

"So maybe when it exploded, it allowed me to make contact with _your_ consciousness…"

"But I'm not _dead_." Blue eyes met purple, and both held quite a bit of doubt.

Well, Danny seemed relatively emotionally stable (for the first time ever) and he even looked like he might have found a potential friend (Or, at least, she had found him). Maybe now he would stop having those weird dreams telling him to befriend Danny.

"So… My parents should be home any minute…"

"Oh, um, okay… bye" Samantha turned to leave, and Danny stood up.

"Bye…" He turned to go, seemed to remember something, and hesitated. "Uh… thanks… and, umm…. Sorry... You know, for being a jerk."

"Don't mention it."

"Cool… See you." Danny followed Samantha out.

**Okay, so I kind of switch from Sam's point of view to Tucker's when Danny starts shouting... Not sure if I can do that, but too late now...  
**


	5. Chapter 5: The Plot Shall SOON Thicken

**Okay, so this chapter is REALLY short, but I needed to include this part before we return to Danny's point of view... (Because he doesn't explain things in the kind of detail I need here for character development)**

Once out on the street, Danny turned to Samantha, who smiled at him shyly.

"So, uh… Where the hell _do_ you live? I'll walk you home."

"No!" She shouted and took a step back, shaking her head. "That's the whole point of running away!"

"Fine! Don't go home! Why the hell did you run, anyways?"

"My parents won't let me go to public school; they're worried I'll be bullied, or something. If they had it their way, I'd spend the rest of my life locked up in a tower and never do anything!"

"It sounds like they're just trying to protect you"

"They can't protect me forever! I have to grow up _sometime_. At some point I'm going to have to go out and live in the real world! And yeah, I'll get hurt, but that's a part of life! If protagonists were always too scared to go on adventures, we wouldn't have heroes! Where would the world be if everyone just stayed at home and hid behind their parents?" By the end of the rant, her hands were in the air for emphasis, and she was practically yelling.

A tiny, unreadable, smile flitted across Danny's face for a moment, but vanished very quickly. It was the first time he'd smiled since Jazz's death, and it felt unfamiliar. In its place was a sad and almost condescending look, directed at the childish girl in front of him. However, his tone was serious, and not remotely mocking. Instead, his voice was filled with sadness, regret, and a hint of… envy?

"Let me guess, you still believe in Fairies, don't you?"

She still wasn't sure if he was mocking her or not. "Well, I don't see why not…"

Danny sighed. "You should go home."

"No!" She practically shouted "Why do I have to go home?"

"You didn't even have the fucking sense to not to go down some dark alleyway!" She winced at the curse word, afraid he would snap and start attacking her again.

Upon seeing her expression, Danny opened his mouth, shut it and looked away. Without looking back, he tried again, almost making a noise, but failing miserably. Finally, he just looked down, shoving his hands into his pockets, and mumbled "Sorry."

"It wasn't dark, anyways. You were glowing, remember?"

And at that Danny started laughing, and, though neither of them realized it, Samantha was the first person to see him laugh in twelve years.

"When he finished, he said "Fine! Don't go home! Where the-" but he stopped himself before he swore. He closed his eyes, as if trying to remember how to fraise a question that didn't involve profanity.

"If you don't want to go home… where do you want to go?"

**Yeah, so sorry about the tiny chapter... I wrote the final chapter for the story instead of the one that comes next :D... I'm not so good at middles... I like writing beginnings, and I like writing ends, but middles... yawn... **

**I'm also going back to school and starting an internship and a tutoring thing so I'm gonna be pretty busy. I might not finish this at all, but instead just throw in a summary of what I was planning to happen and upload the last two chapters... I'm also not getting much feedback anymore, so uploading is kind of pointless...  
**

**So, anyways, tell me what you think :) I HAVE NOT AS OF YET MADE ANY DECISION.  
**


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